Sofitel Metropole

Grand, gracious and graceful – Hanoi’s favourite hotel tickles the pleasure receptors and draws an eclectic crowd

If you love big hotels, you’ll fall head over heels for this grand dame of French colonialism. It's one of Asia’s finest – as good as the city in which it stands – and its enormous central courtyard holds gardens, swimming pool, restaurants and a bar: the best place in town for cocktails before supper. Flaming torches flicker in the night, uniformed waiters swoop with martinis… even the stoniest heart will know a moment’s happiness here.

Bedrooms may not be the strongest suit, not because their colonial delights fail to seduce – far from it – but merely because you are away for the glitter and gossip. Make sure you settle in for afternoon tea (there is a chocolate buffet of epic proportions), while Spices Garden restaurant cooks up some of the best Asian food you’ll ever eat. As for the ladies who run reception: huge smiles, gorgeous uniforms and an eager willingness to help their guests. It’s got all the right ingredients for a perfect stay, and with the Hoan Kiem Lake right on your doorstep, you couldn’t be better placed to explore downtown Hanoi.

Highs

• The chocolate buffet at afternoon tea is unmissable
• There are bells by pool loungers with which to summons a waiter
• Delicious food, the best we tasted in Vietnam
• Hanoi, a yard of Vietnam’s finest cloth and one of Indochina’s great cities

Lows

• Standard bedrooms don’t have quite the flair you expect of them
• It’s a big hotel and breakfast can get very busy
• You get ¾-size bath tubs in the some of the less expensive rooms